Optimizing Earth’s Resources for Medicines Security

Abstract

Anthropogenic devastation and ignoring non-renewable resource boundaries have brought humanity to a place where the continuing experience on Earth is critically threatened. Our future depends on showing reverence for these limits, for the interconnectedness of all life on Earth, and for the continuous optimization of the remaining valuable resources. Key tipping points are close to breaching, after which no return will be possible. One, the bleaching of the coral reefs may have already been surpassed. Following numerous global meetings on climate change and biodiversity, the time for talking has long passed. Dramatic actions, including urgent defossilization, and substantial long-term financing, are necessary to rebalance the relationships of humanity within nature. The European Union (EU) says the continuous addiction to “growth” must be relinquished, “not for us but for our descendants”, that their lives may have sufficiency through degrowth. This review provides a brief history of how this uncharted crisis point in Earth’s history was reached and describes options for moving forward scientifically, based on contemporary thinking, for a future with sustainable medicinal and biological agents.

Humans and animals will continue to require biological agents for prophylaxis and treatment. Where will those agents originate? Beyond net-zero energy sourcing by 2050, defossilization will also diminish the foundational chemical supplies to process and manufacture synthetic and natural medicines, thereby necessitating a major paradigm shift for Medicines Security to a wholly sustainable production profile. Developing sustainable replacement reagents, sourcing, and products is a completely unexplored territory for humanity. That research paradigm shift represents an exceptional opportunity for collaborative, data- and technology-based, sustainable natural products development for the next 20-25 years. Beyond prioritized medicinal plants, innovative sourcing of chemicals will include developing agricultural and urban “(bio)waste” as a source of chemical building blocks for a new pharmaceutical industry in a circular economy that does not deplete, and may enhance, Earth’s resources for future generations. Government, industry, and academia must accept that reality and commit the resources to ensure that developing sustainable medicines locally is pursued avidly, for the holistic health and well-being of the planet in which lauding an increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is replaced by a focus on a holistic and healthy society.